Sliding scraper floor support



Allg 26, 1969 R. Y. HERMlz ETAL 3,462,860

SLIDING SCRAPEH FLOOR SUPPORT l Filed Oct. 20. 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Twin. WJ@

` Aug' 26, 1969 n. Y. HERMIZ ETAL l 3,462,860

SLIDINQ SCRAPEH FLOOR SUPPORT Filed oct. 20, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3,462,861) SLIDING SCRAPER FLUOR SUPPORT Ramiz Y. Hermiz, Addison, and Edward D. Duke, Chicago, Ill., assignors to International Harvester Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 20, 1966, Ser. No. 588,192 Int. Cl. E02f 7/02, 9/28 ILS. Cl. 37-129 2 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to earthmoving Scrapers, and more particularly to a novel supporting structure for allowing movement of the forward portion of the bottom iioor of the scraper bowl from its forward digging position to its rearward ejection position and back again.

As is well known in the earthmoviug scraper field, one of the usual ways of dumping a scraper is to slide the forward portion of the oor of the bowl rearwardly out from under the load while at the same time pushing the ejector forwardly over the rear stationary portion of the bowl floor. This is accomplished with various arrangements of hydraulic mechanisms, for example, as shown in copending application 453,744, tiled May 6, 1965. This hydralic mechanism is not deemed a portion of this invention, and thus is not shown and described herein, it only being necessary to realize that the forward portion of the floor is movably attached to the bowl and au ejector is movably mounted in the bowl.

The novel portion herein disclosed pertains to the means for mounting the sliding portion of the oor to the bowl. This is presently accomplished by using a track on each side of the bowl and having a roller or a slide ride in the track, the roller or Slide being attached to a mounting bracket which supports the movable -oor portion. All this is well known in the art, however problems with this construction have arisen in that high loads placed on the iioor have damaged the rollers, the roller bearings, and other portions of the supporting means including the tracks themselves.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide means for supporting the sliding oor which are simple, strong, and economical to manufacture.

A further object of this invention is to provide novel means for supporting the sliding floor wherein the major part of the loading forces are removed from the rollers and bearings.

Still .another object of this invention is to provide novel means for supporting the sliding floor wherein the entire loading forces are on support pads attached to the mounting bracket and resting on the track, while the rollers are in cutout portions of the track and under no stress while in a stationary position.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide novel means for supporting the sliding floor wherein both upward and downward forces on the floor are absorbed equally well without damaging the rollers or roller bearings.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will nited States Patent 0 ice become readily apparent from the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an earthmoving scraper;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged view of the novel mounting means showing the cutting edge in its forward position;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged view similar to FIGURE 2 showing the sliding oor in its intermediate position;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged view similar to FIGURE 2 showing the sliding floor in its rearwardmost position;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5 5 in the direction of the arrows; and

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken along line 66 in the direction of the arrows.

While an illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawings and will be described in detail herein, the invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms and it should be understood that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplication of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring now to the drawings, FIGURE 1 illustrates an entire earthmoving scraper 10, including a prime mover 11 and a scraper 12, as is well known in the art. The scraper 12 includes a bowl 13, having side walls 14 and 15, a fixed bottom floor 16, and a slidable bottom floor 17 having a cutting edge 18 aiixed thereto. Also included on the scraper 12 is the ejector (not shown, but located at the rear of bowl 13), and actuating means (not shown, but including link 19 attached to slidable oor 17). This arrangement, which is well known in the art provides all the necessary structure for moving the ejector forward and rearward, and moving oor 17 rearward and forward to dump the load as was described hereinabove.

FIGURE 2 shows a supporting structure 20 for movably and slidably attaching the bottom oor 17 to the scraper bowl 13. This supporting structure 20` which constitutes the novel portion of this application, includes track members 21 and 22 attached as by welding, one to each of the bowl sides 14 and 15. It would, of course, be possible to use a plurality of tracks on each bowl side, but one continuous track is shown as it provides a neater, cleaner arrangement and tends to help eliminate the entry of foreign matter onto the track surface. Also included in the supporting structure 20 are mounting brackets 23 and 24 attached to one side of the sliding floor 17 and mounting brackets 25 and 26 attached to the other side of the sliding floor 17. Rotatably connected, one to each of these mounting brackets 23, 24, 25 and 26 as by a shaft and bearing element 27, are rollers 28, 29, 30 and 31; and each roller is arranged to ride in one or the other of the tracks 21 and 22 as is shown in the figures.

Also connected to mounting brackets 23, 24, 25 and 26 are support pads 32, 33, 34 and 35, respectively; each pad including a at portion 36 and a bracing member 37 as shown. These support pads are affixed to their respective mounting bracket as by welding, and are located adjacent their respective roller. It will be noted from the drawings that the front support pads 32 and 34 are located to the rear of the rollers 28 and 30` and the rear support pads 33 and 35 are located forwardly of the rollers 29 and 31. It should be further noted that all the flat portions 36 of the support pads are also located in a horizontal plane slightly higher than the lowest part of the rollers, for reasons which will be explained in detail hereinafter.

Additionally, to provide an operating structure, the track means 21 and 22 each include a cutout portion 38 and 39, respectively, in the roller supporting part thereof. These cutout portions are arranged to allow the roller to become disengaged from the track members and thus eliminate loads on the rollers, shafts and bearings as will be described in more detail hereinbelow.

It may be desired to provide track braces as shown at 40 and 41 to strengthen the track and prevent bending in the load bearing part thereof, however care must be taken to avoid blocking cutouts 38 and 39 with these braces since enough space must be present to permit the rollers to fall into the cutout portions.

In operation, the sliding scraper floor support functions as follows. When the sliding floor 17 is in its forward position (FIGURE 2) as during the digging and the transport cycles, the two forward rollers 28 and 30 are off the front end of the tracks 21 and 22 and the two rear rollers 29 and 31 are hanging free in the cutout portions 38 and 39. This permits the entire load of the sliding floor 17 to be supported by the support pads 32, 33, 34 and 35 and while in this position the shafts, bearings, etc. are protected from load damages.

When it is desired to move the floor 17 rearwardly, the actuating means applies a pulling force to link 19. This pulls the rollers onto the tracks and raises the support pads out of contact with the tracks to provide rolling rather than sliding friction as the floor moves rearwardly. This lower friction is extremely important when the oor 17 is being pulled out from under a load of earth since the resistance to movement of the floor is already very high.

As the sliding floor 17 reaches its rearward position, the rear rollers 29 and 31 fall off the end of tracks 21 and 22 and the forward rollers 28 and 30 fall into cutout portions 38 and 39 (FIGURE 4), thus placing support pads 32, 33, 34 and 35 on the tracks 21 and 22 and permitting all the rollers to hang free, thereby being subject to a no-load condition.

The engaging and disengaging action of the rollers and support pads is similar when it is desired to move the sliding oor forwardly from its rearward position as by pushing on link 19.

Accordingly, a sliding floor arrangement has been provided which places all the rollers under zero load during all the stationary sliding floor conditions, because the rollers are suspended in air during the loading condition (with the sliding oor in the forward position), the transport condition (with the sliding floor in the forward position), and the grading condition (with the sliding floor in the rearward position). These conditions would induce by far the highest loads on the rollers and bearings, if they were supporting the load at that time; however in the instant embodiment, the rollers are loaded only during the ejection cycle when the floor is being pulled out from under the load, and this ejection cycle consists approximately of only 2% of the operational cycle. Hence, in 98% of the operational use of the scraper the rollers are non-supporting and thus under zero load, providing a structure which accomplishes the objects as set forth hereinabove.

What is claimed is:

1. In an earthmoving scraper having bowl with side walls, a movable iloor, and actuating means for moving the iioor relative to the bowl between a closed position wherein material will be retained within the bowl and an open position wherein material within the bowl will be discharged therefrom; the improvement comprising: a U-shaped channel member secured to the exterior of each side wall, each of said members including a pair of outwardly etxending anges relatively vertically displaced; a bracket secured to each corner of the floor and extending upwardly therefrom; a roller journalled on each bracket and engageable with a lower flange; a supoprt pad secured to each bracket and extending over the lower flange in the path of the rollers, and being vertically spaced therefrom when the roller is in engagement with the lower ange; each of said lower flanges having a cutout portion at approximately the midpoint thereof defining separate tracks, the length of each track being less than the longitudinal spacing of the rollers; whereby the support pads are in engagement with the lower flange when the oor is in either of said positions and the rollers are in engagement with the lower flange and supporting the floor only when the oor is being moved from one position to the other.

2. In an earthmoving scraper according to claim 1 and further comprising a cutting Vedge secured to the iloor; and the distance between the oor and the lower surfaces of the side walls is less than the distance between the upper surface of the rollers and the upper flange; whereby the vertical components of forces imposed on the oor by resistance encountered at the cutting edge are transmitted directly to the side walls.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,990,542 2/1935 Gilpin 16-96 X 2,340,014 l/l944 Nystrom 16-96 X 3,274,711 9/1966 Johnson et al. 37-129 ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner STEPHEN C. PELLEGRINO, Assistant `Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 16-96 

